New Resident to Casa Peterson!

Hope you didn't think I was talking about a baby!


Just paid for this beauty :) She'll be moving in with us sometime next week, we don't know for sure. She sure is nice and sweet, and very efficient with her time. Yes, she is a girl. You mean you don't assign your appliances a gender? That's a shame...

New Goals

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was a little too eventful, if you ask me. Christmas Eve started early, with both of us having to work a half day. Then I left early (yeah, early on a half day!) because it was so slow and I was SO sick I could hardly lift my head. And no, it wasn't morning sickness :) So we went home and I slept for three hours while Adam cleaned the house so it would be spotless when my parents came over that night. How cute, right? Well, luckily for me, after I woke up I felt MUCH better but still not 100%. But the parents came over, we had a yummy dinner and then watched Miracle on 34th Street, opened presents, played Apples to Apples, and ate some really tasty bread pudding. It was a really great Christmas Eve (except for the sickness)
The next morning, we woke up, opened presents (my big present was a carpet shampooer, and Adam's was a camcorder) and got ready for the Peterson's breakfast. We spent the whole day with Adam's family and came home exhausted to spend some time with the puppy.
All in all, it was a great Christmas. Didn't take many pictures, but oh well.
Anyhow, on to something else! As the title of this post states, I've been making some new goals recently. Life's been SO busy that I fell like I'm always bummed about not doing something or stressed out about something else so I decided I need to do more that I like to do and things that make me happy. A clean house is one of them :) Bloggin is another. So that's why I'm posting today. I promise to post at least once a week, and find something fun to actually post about.

Today's post? The kitchen. We've begun the painful process of changing up the kitchen and our first step was the appliances. With limited counter space, we REALLY needed to move our mammoth micro off of the counter and above the stove where it belongs. Before:

See all of the space that was wasted? Plus the vent hardly worked and neither did the light. OUT I SAY!!! So we took it out. And the cabinet above it. Well, actually just moved the cabinet up. Here's our poor kitchen during the process.
Old microwave on the island, toaster oven on the counter, missing cabinet somewhere, and dishes all over. Oh, and I know I'm the WORST person for not putting any pictures of the inside of our house up, but I promise I will, hence the goal to post more often.
We decided to lift the cabinet now, rather then wait until we added more cabinets, so we wouldn't have to install the micro twice.
See? Look how pretty :) All done and with only ONE trip to Home Depot. A 20 minutes job that turned into a few hours. Plus, we're so glad we raised the cabinet, since leaving it would have made the microwave WAY too low. Oh, this picture shows the color of the kitchen so much better then the one above it. Kind of a neutral green.

Oh, and we replaced the dishwasher! This one even works :) Now I don't have to handwash ANY MORE!!!
Oh so pretty! And quiet! And shiny! And no buttons in sight! We've since replace then fridge and due to a Christmas bonus and a surprise check from our escrow account, we'll be able to get our stove sooner then expected! But that'll be a challenge since we're upgrading from Electric to GAS!!! Yippee! I'm just glad I don't have to run the gas line. Love ya honey!

Living the crazy life!

So, I know I've been totally MIA with my blog lately, but it's hard to do since we haven't done much "picture worthy" things lately because we're busy busy busy! Now that most of my projects are winding down (almost done Amber!) I thought I'd take a second to upload some pictures. Not very exciting, but it's all I've got people!

Here's me and Brody, on a Saturday morning (aka, no makeup, sweats and crazy hair). We try to take lots of pictures with him so we can remember how little he was! He's not little anymore! Last vet appointment had him weighing at just under 30 lbs and that was two weeks ago! I can hardly pick him up anymore.

Okay next not-so-exciting picture... We got free tickets to go to the Jazz game on Thanksgiving. So much fun! And we had pretty good seats. Highlight of the game? The guys that were accross the aisle and down a few rows were dressed in vintage Jazz uniforms (itty bitty shorts) and dancing their hearts out!

Of course, we had to get a Christmas tree after Thankgiving! We only got it just down the street from our house, but can you say Griswold? Looks great! Little full, Lotta sap!!

This is the first year we got to have Christmas lights. I think Adam was pretty excited, no, more like giddy to get those lights up. We had some stuggles (like blowing a fuse when we connected all 10 strands together! Shouldn't an electrician know better?) but it came out b-e-a-utiful!

disclaimer: our light colors in no way affiliate us with any college football team, even though Adam would like to think so

We've been up to a whole lot more, but I'll save that for a different day. Hope ya'll have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Treats

Now that Christmas is almost here, I've been thinking of the infamous "Neighbor gifts." I don't like giving them, don't have time to make them, but boy do I love to receive them! With absolutely NO time this Christmas season, I'm heading to the good ol' reliable this year. Anyone in my family knows exactly what this is, right Cristl and Chantel? English Toffee!!! 15 minutes, not a lot of cost, and a big YUM factor! So, I'm letting you in on the family recipe so you can take advantage of this yummy, easy treat.

ENGLISH TOFFEE

1 cup whole almonds
2 sticks salted butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup semi-sweet choc. chips
Brown paper bag (just because)
large cookie sheet

You can make this with pecans or walnuts, but I think almonds are the best. You can also make a double batch, but don't risk doing more then two batches at the same time. It may not work.

Follow the directions TO A "T" or you'll have a hard time getting the right result.
Before you start, it's best to get everything out and measured, because once you get started, you won't be able to stop going. Melt the butter on low in a medium-large pot. While the butter is melting, chop up the almonds so that they are in small pieces. Once the butter is completely melted, stir in the sugar and water and turn up the heat to medium high. Take 3/4 of the almonds and add to the pot (leave the tiny bits and crumbs for the topping). Stir with a wooden spoon and oven mitt because it's going to get hot! Hope your arms are strong because you're going to be stirring, a lot! It's going to start boiling and you have to keep it moving, so stir constantly and quickly, going over every part of the bottom of the part to avoid any burnt spots. Remember that paper bag? Well, this is when you need it because it will make you PERFECT toffee every time. Keep stirring and the candy will slowly start to darken in color. Watch that paper bag, because as soon as the candy is the same color as the bag (and you'll suddenly see a bit of smoke coming up) it's done! Grab your pot and dump all of the candy onto your cookie sheet. It'll start to spread like hot lava, so don't touch, cause it feeling like hot lava too. If you want fewer, thicker pieces, let it spread itself, if you want more, thinner pieces, take your wooden spoon and spread it out a bit (like spreading tomato sauce on a pizza crust). Wait a few minues and sprinkle those chocolate chips on top (while it's still hot). Let the chocolate chips melt and then spread that good stuff all over the top of your toffee. Don't forget those almond bits and crumbs that you saved, because those get sprinkled on top. Let it cool COMPLETELY (you can stick it in the fridge or freezer to hurry it along) and break it up using your hands into bite size pieces. Stuff it in a cute holiday mug or add it to a plate of other treats and that's it! Seems like a lot of directions, but once you make it once, you'll get the hang of it.





(linked to Kelly's Korner)